Nov 13, 2007 4:46 pm US/Pacific
'Drought Busters' Return After Record Dry Summer
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
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Anyone who sees cases of water waste is urged to call (800) DIAL-DWP.
AP
Get ready for the return of the DWP "Drought Busters." Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said Tuesday that six full-time customer service employees employed by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power will travel the city in Toyota Prius hybrid cars to educate residents on ways to reduce water waste and to monitor excessive water use.
Under the city's Prohibited Water Use Ordinance, residents cannot:
-- use water to clean sidewalks, walkways, driveways or parking areas;
-- water lawns between 11 a.m. and 3 p.m.;
-- allow excess water from sprinklers to flood gutters;
-- use water to clean, fill or maintain decorative foundations, unless the water is part of a recirculation system;
-- serve water to customers in restaurants unless requested; and
-- allow leaks to go unattended.
"This effort engages the community directly," Villaraigosa said. "Currently this is a program that attempts to educate the residents about what they should do."
The "DWPs" will give written notices to Angelenos caught wasting water. At this point, at least, the notices will not carry financial penalties.
"Their role will be to provide positive reinforcement, a water conservation message, and educate the public on the city's water use ordinance," DWP Acting General Manager Robert Rozanski said.
"Just to be clear, we are not in the mandatory water conservation phase at this point, and we will not be writing fines," he said. "We will be informing residents of any violations we see or hear about, and give them conservation tips."
The program was first introduced in 1990, when it was credited with cutting water usage by 34 percent, according to the DWP.
The Drought Busters program could be beefed up, depending on how much snow falls in the eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains.
The Department of Water and Power typically gets half of its water from the mountains, about 35 percent from the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, and about 15 percent from groundwater sources.
However, due to a lack of snow in the Sierras, the utility has had to purchase most of its water from the MWD this year, increasing the DWP's water purchase bill from $120 million to $180 million.
Anyone who sees cases of water waste is urged to call (800) DIAL-DWP.
(© 2007 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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